Footwear

Footwear

A number of ancient lotus shoes (small shoes for bound feet of Chinese women) are still extant.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has a tradition of making special boots that mark the position and function of the wearer. The boots, locally called tshoglham, were originally made of silk cloth, but by the twentieth century more often in combination with leather. Some of the boots are left undecorated, but others are ornamented with appliqué and embroidery.

The Textile Research Centre in Leiden houses a pair of embroidered boots from Mongolia. They were acquired in 2008. They are made of felt, leather, vegetable and synthetic fibre. They are 53 cm high and 32 cm long.

The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin holds a pair of embroidered boots from Yarkand, Xinjiang, in the western parts of China. The boots were collected by the British explorer Robert Barkley Shaw in c. 1869. The embroidery is worked with metal thread and cotton thread. Some of the decoration is worked with chain stitch. The boots measure 40 x 24 cm.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam houses a pair of leather and open-weave linen shoes (8.5 x 3 cm) that date to the first half of the nineteenth century (c. 1825-1850). The uppers of the shoes are embroidered with flowers and branches. The embroidery is carried out in tent stitch (or possibly cross stitch). The shoes have a flat sole (no heels) and square toes. The upper edge of the inside of the shoe is strengthened with a tape.

A pair of embroidered women's shoes from the Iranian province of Gilan, in the north of the country along the Caspian Sea, is in the collection of the Textile Research Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands. The footwear dates to the twentieth century. The shoes are made of leather and cotton, and decorated with vegetable fibres. They were acquired in Gilan in 1998.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a pair of embellished Oriental shoes (mojaris) that were acquired in Lucknow, India, in 1855. They are made of leather and cotton, and embroidered with silk and with coiled and twisted silver and gilded silver threads, and further embellished with hundreds of spangles.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a pair of remarkably well-preserved leather shoes from medieval Egypt. The shoes, which originally may have been purple or red, are decorated with gilding (gold leaf) and embroidery, using linen and silk (?) thread. The shoes measure 26 x 8 cm, with a height of 7 cm.

The Textile Research Centre in Leiden has a pair of girl's slippers from Morocco. Localled called babouch, they measure 18 x 9 cm. They are made of leather and hand embroidered with cotton.

The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin holds a pair of embroidered puttees (leg bands) from among the Hazaras in Afghanistan. The embroidery includes metal thread. The bands measure c. 44 x 9 cm. They were bought in Kabul in 1971/1972. See also Hazara embroidery.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam houses a pair of high-heeled, leather and green velvet shoes that date to c. 1700 and were made in The Netherlands. They are decorated with silver thread passementerie and floral motifs embroidered with silver thread. The shoes measure 21.8 x 7.7 cm. The heels are 9.5 cm high.

In the Friedenssaal of Münster's city hall (Rathaus) there is a single lady's shoe on display. It is believed to date from between AD 1620-1640. The shoe is made from leather and covered with (red) velvet. It has a small Louis style heel and a large vamp; especially the 'tongue' is very large.

Moccasins are a form of footwear, consisting of sole and sides made from one piece of leather and stitched together at the top. The sole is normally soft and flexible. Sometimes a vamp (upper part of the footwear) is added from a separate piece of material. Moccasins can just cover the foot or reach up as far as the calf of the wearer.

Mojaris (also known as mozaris) are a form of traditional footwear from the Indian subcontinent. They are mostly made of tanned leather. The leather (or sometimes textile) uppers are characteristically decorated with embroidery, metal threads, pieces of glass, brass nails, cowry shells, etc. The uppers are generally connected to the soles with cotton thread.

A pair of decorated women's shoes made of linen and dating to the 1840's or 1850's, is housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The shoes have a square toe, and the upper and tongue are ornamented with a red silk trim and glass beads.

The collection of the TRC Leiden includes a modern pair of mules, 29 x 5 cm, with a yellow vamp, hand-embroidered with metal thread (passing and crinkly purl) and further decorated with glass beads. The embroidery consists of stylised flowers.

The Textile Research Centre (TRC), Leiden, houses a pair of hand embroidered shoes from the Siwa oasis, Egypt. Localled called srabin, the shoes date to the late twentieth century.

The Textile Research Centre (TRC), Leiden, has a pair of late twentieth century, leather, gold embroidered men's Oriental slippers (babouches; paizâr) from among the Pashtuns in Afghanistan (TRC 2008.0290a-b). They measure 27 x 11 cm. 

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a pair of wool embroidered half-boots (also called ankle boots), which date to the mid-nineteenth century and were made in Britain. They are made of canvas, with elastic side gussets, and with the uppers being (hand) embroidered. The boots measure 18 x 10 x 28 cm.

The Textile Research Centre (TRC), Leiden, holds a pair of embroidered women's shoes from Afghanistan, made of leather and velvet. They measure 22 x 7 cm. The decoration consists of metal thread embroidery and couching.

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